Bonus Episode: Internet Famous

Sarah, I am commenting here about the CBC podcast you have. I listened to the episode on Michelle Remembers and I found it really depressing. It was too close to home. I find it outrageous that Dr. Palzer didn’t get his license revoked. And that he was allowed to keep practicing as a psychiatrist. It makes my skin crawl. I grew up in Vancouver in the 60’s and 70’s and I can remember the authority attributed to doctors. Sorry I had to vent! On the other hand, I think it’s important and I’m happy that you do the journalistic work that you do!

Crazy that this came out before everything went down on tiktok. So much more happened. Also, not a bartender in Pittsburgh but a Ymca fitness instructor in New Castle. Same vibe lol.

I’d never heard of her til this show so I looked her up. Looks like she has not posted on her YouTube in a year. Same with her IG. Also Bianca Devins was friends with the creep who murdered her. They went to the concert together but only as friends. She wasn’t interested in him romantically. He was jealous of her kissing someone else at the concert and murdered her on the way home. He then took pics of her dead and posted them on IG 😢

I’m just listening to this now but getting to the part about Deanna is surreal because she’s a dear friend of mine and I remember comforting her while Gabbie was harassing her

"I'm *INCLINED* to like anyone from Pittsburgh" bu-dum-chhhh

PITTSBURGH IS TERRRRRRIBLE HOW COULD YOU lmao

I’ve been binge listening and the amount of times that Sarah brings up Jurassic Park is truly incredible and I think drinking game fodder?

Forming empathy about a person or a subject is not a short hand way to feeling correct. I love this podcast, but I am so bothered by the fact that you think merely saying someone who you don’t relate to (I.e someone of colour, a criminal etc) is worth of understanding, and yet for rich, white people, you expend so much energy explaining how their behaviour is okay, and worthy of actual understanding. You barely even invite people of colour, of different classes, or of nationalities on your podcast. I’ve finally realised that this podcast is mostly just two educated white people talking about how badly we have misunderstood other educated white people. I’m done.

This episode strikes me so wrong. You’re acting like gabby is a victim of a gross system, instead of recognising she was integral to creating this system? Her ability to victimise herself whilst staying in, and helping to grow the gross YouTube group of vloggers is reprehensible. People with a lot less money, fame, of a different colour or sexuality than her are constantly needing to be aware of their behaviour, even those who are famous. I’m sorry but fuck gabbie Hanna, fuck her self indulgent bullshit. Stop wasting your time trying to dissect her disgusting behaviour.

Just listened to this bonus from my apartment in Pittsburgh and love that Sarah mentioned the Duquesne Incline.

At what point did you start thinking “Gabbie is definitely going to listen to this” and what do you think she thought?

Oh my god. I have just started watching American Crime Story Impeachment- literally- it’s just started now in UK. In opening scenes, not only the Linda Tripp fat suit, but Monica in the gym, Linda: “I am such a slob” then shot of Linda whizzing up Slim Fast in the blender. Ok we get it. Linda is fat. FFS. Why did they think this was the thing to do? Possibly people have commented further up - sorry if repetitive - I haven’t read everything yet.

I so appreciate the amount of empathy that Sarah and Michael have. I honestly feel that if I were to reach the level of “notoriety” that Gabbie has I’d be very similar. We’re not built for the internet!

OK, noob question: what is the best way of listening to these Patreon episodes on an iPhone? As far as I am aware, I cannot use my podcast app, and opening it in Safari is cumbersome and in general means the podcast glitches. What's the way around this, so I can listen to the podcast on the go, as per usual?

If you’re gonna keep doing youtubers please do trisha paytas! lol

100% a huge part of women victim blaming is women telling themselves it can’t happen to them, ie being like oh why was she walking home at 11 o’clock at night therefore this can’t happen to me because I would never do that. Not that it makes it right but yeah

Sarah! I'm not sure if it's a rabbit hole you've already fallen down but BigNik on YouTube is singlehandedly reviving the satanic panic for himself. I don't know if it'd be enough for a regular episode, but I'd love to see you guys talk about it here in a way like you did with Gabbie Hanna!

@audrey same... because my brain wants to be cooking and cleaning surrounded by other people to tell stories and chat with. it's pretty sad sometimes to think about how it's all replaced by an mp3... sarah does a good job making me feel better about it because she's so positive and accepting. don't always get that from neighbors and coworkers haha

The more i hear Sarah talk about parasocial interaction the more i realize that it’s the reason i have to listen to YWA during any alone moment of my day

WOW Gabbie seems so much like my older sister and my god how much worse things would be if she were also famous.

Much love from Pittsburgh! ❤️ I smiled when I heard Sarah pull the name (and pronunciation) of the Duquesne Incline off the top of her head, so knowing we’re also her favorite city really warms my heart

I love all your episodes, the McDonalds coffee really took me back. I was wondering about a Black Panthers episode(s). It's a bit out of your era but there's so much we're all wrong about with the group, would be fascinating!

I would love to know if there’s a story behind school shootings in general.

Hi. Thanks for your fun (also not fun) podcast.

Guys I would LOVE an episode on Sunny von Bülow.

I love ya'll and I do think you brought a lot of needed nuance to this situation, but I also think a big dynamic was missed here, in that a lot of Gabbie' behaviors are influenced by her struggles with mental health and seeking diagnoses/treatment. I'm not excusing her behavior of course, I just wanted to point out the missed aspect because people who don't understand mental health struggles tend to demonize what they don't understand, and not all of your listeners extend the same grace you guys do.

Still listening to the episode but when you mentioned how people would call Chris Christie fat instead of bringing up legit criticisms I was reminded how I felt during the entire Trump presidency when people called him fat and orange. As if by emphasizing his size/color you can truly convey how God awful he is instead of on the abundant evidence itself. I really didn't like the Trump fat-shaming because PLENTY OF GREAT PEOPLE ARE FAT, obviously.

I listened to the long-awaited Coffee Episode, and you got the Time and Newsweek, the Bathroom Readers, and jokey calendars but forgot Reader's Digest, with its no less than three features of conservative outrage anecdotes (I think one was even called "That's Outrageous!") at any given time.

I really liked this episode, at the end of the day most of this should be private and it's none of our business. I do like Gabbie, and maybe I have seen enough of her to be able to understand her behavior more but my conclusion is that if she was a shitty friend in her 20s I can relate to that. Like bitch same, me too. And I feel really bad for her because the amount of hate she gets is brutal, traumatizing for sure. I remember Sarah talking about how fame is abuse and I think it applies here, anything shitty she has done in her life has been done to her by millions of people for years.

I love that people are now more aware about mental health and toxic people etc but calling disagreement “gaslighting” is definitely not cool and takes away the impact that real gaslight has on its victims 😐

I have no idea how Mike just kept on going when Sara made the killer one liner in the beginning when Mike said “vine went belly up in 2016” and Sara commented “as did democracy “. 😂 I had to rewind to catch what I missed while laughing. Sara one liners are the best.

This was so good! 💚💚. I NEED the trisha paytas episode though

Omg so glad y'all like Ann Reardon too

The continued exploration of contemporary fame and the relationship between communities that generate value to individuals and/or toxicity at scale is very much my jam. This ep has a lot of really strong comments on it (both from personal experience and otherwise). That said, internet drama as a topic isn't my favorite subject-of-the-week. This is entirely personal preference--it was difficult to listen to the details of the situation and to the audio clips from Gabby Hanna. To be clear: I do not think anything in the episode was tastelessly done or poorly handled! Just not my cup of tea, for the same reason that watching dramatube itself is uncomfortable to me. But, like, still another great episode and conversation!

Please do a Martha Stewart episode... I'm an Australian and never really understood what happened other than what I could glean from The Late Show jokes at the time

What about an episode on the anthrax scare?

PLEASE do an episode on Rachel Hollis!

Can you add an episode (bonus or otherwise) on Carrie Nation to your infinite list of future episodes? THE ORIGINAL DRUNK HISTORY https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/carry-nation-biography-reasons-for-activism.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Okay now I’m sucked into this drama. They mentioned a YouTube commentator’s channel and for the life of me I can’t find it!! Anyone remember what it was??

I started listening to your podcast when the pandemic hit, and its kept me going through multiple lockdowns and furloughs - I really appreciate the effort you guys take to dig up all the detail and the empathy and nuance in each debunking. So thank you 😊 also FREAKING loved this episode, as someone who has no idea of YouTubers (outside Jenna marbles, my gal) it was fascinating (and also made me SO GLAD I grew up without social media...just MSN and MySpace 😅). A few others have mentioned this but I'd love an episode (or a few!) Comparing the lives of maligned female super stars like marilyn, Britney, francis...I think to that would be super interesting. Thanks for all the awesome work you guys do!!!

Pittsburgh is my favorite city, too! Thrilled with the Incline shout-out

PLEASE do Rachel Hollis at some point.

This is the first episode I've listened to after subscribing. It is also the first episode I've shut off half way through.

In the spirit of 90s nostalgia - I would so love a "You're Wrong About" about the Milli Vanilli lip syncing scandal!

I would listen to a podcast where Michael and Sarah just break down YouTube/online drama and I would love it so much.

I can NOT wait to listen to this. I've been seeing this unfold for years kind of peripherally and it just has so many layers, in my opinion this is just another illustration of what a mess the Youtube system and 'drama' macrocosm is. She's such a fascinating character in online spaces because she's both relatable as the toxic friend everyone has had and as the deep dark fears everyone (?) has about being the toxic friend, but I wish she would have just gotten the help she needed offline and stopped hurting as many people and herself years ago.

So e-girl is basically Goth Cher from Clueless

More episode like this!! Can’t get enough.

i also think a "You're Wrong About" episode on Marilyn Monroe would be really cool! Or even a general episode about a few different iconic film stars: Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, etc

OMG, Sarah, I hope you check this sooner or later. I'm from Barcelona, Spain, and recently, a young bishop from a nearby diocese resigned due to personal reasons, Wich is VERY STRANGE. Today all the newspapers are full with the reason: he was involved with a EROTIC-SATANIC writer. I really think you should look into this!! 🤣 I'll leave you a link ( in Catalan though, try Google translate). https://elmon.cat/societat/bisbe-solsona-relacio-escriptora-novelles-erotiques-sataniques-301250/?amp&__twitter_impression=true

I’m so glad you guys talked about this, I got a little too sucked into the Gabbie Hanna drama, mostly because my name is also Gabi (though spelled differently) and I’m also born and raised in Pittsburgh (still here, tho not a bartender. Too much standing). The whole situation just feels so.. cosmic to me? Kind of like how like either Neville or Harry could have been the chosen one but in choosing Harry, Voldemort fulfilled the prophecy? Could either of us have been the Hated One but Voldemort chose Gabbie and not me? Like how could someone who had a not too dissimilar life to me and my friends (I had many friends who went to Pitt at the same time as her, although I’ve never heard anything about her through the grapevine, despite having my ears to the ground lol) turned out that way and I sit on my couch and watch cult documentaries with my cat most nights? I think it goes to show that we truly are all capable of doing the things we think are unthinkable and I spend a lot of time wondering how she got there and I got here, but also it makes me more grateful that I’m here and not there. Also thanks for thinking Pittsburgh is cool. It is cool except the pollution. If yinz are ever in town I can take yinz dahn to da strip and we can get some breakfast at DeLuca’s nat. It’s sad that Gabbie didn’t just stay here and be a bartender. She would have been amazing. I can picture her slinging vodka shots to underage Pitt students at Mario’s now

This is just to say that we in Pittsburgh love you too!

I know this is Deep Gabbie Lore but I am still so amazed that more people don’t know about the Bo Burnham stalking scandal, I think the top layer of Gabbie feels justifiable and the deeper it goes it gets worse

Omg I need to share with y'all the time that I was working as a music agent in 2009 and I made a joke about Hanson on Twitter and HANSON'S AGENT @'d me. I had no more than 300 followers and I definitely did not tag Hanson in my half-baked, mid-afternoon joke.

i’ve been putting off learning about gabbie hanna for soooo long and now i’m so glad i did

Episode idea: morgellons—which is a condition much maligned by mainstream medicine. Leslie Jamison wrote a great essay on it in the empathy exams

I want to hear you talk about your feelings about Lindsay Ellis.

When all this drama started with her I googled her and she’s from my very small hometown. I was shocked I didn’t know who she was, but I also was completely inundated with useless info when I tried to read more so I’m glad you broke it down.

I'm terribly sorry to hear that you've had to disengage from the TwitterVerse because of negativity. People sometimes suck, muchly. I thoroughly enjoy what you do, which is why I support you on Patreon. Keep up the good work, fine podcasters!

My tween loves you both. (So do I, and in lockdown in Melbourne a new episode is literally the highlight of my week so thank you!)

Sarah: We shouldn’t give Gabby Hanna any more attention. Me: But I want to know what Sarah’s couch looks like.

there literally couldn’t have been a more perfect meeting of worlds- the Gabbie Hanna rabbit hole I’ve been down for months, and my favorite podcast talking about it. There is literally no one on the internet that I can find that is well researched on her and also has genuine compassion for her. It’s nice.

And thank you for producing such an amazing podcast that is keeping me sane in pandemic times. Kia kaha!

I had to stop the podcast immediately to Google you Sarah and I can say without hesitation that your original nose is wonderful!

I kept waiting to hear you mention Creepshow Art. Yikes with that nonsense. But this was really great. You two may be "less famous" than Gabby Hannah, but I still get a thrill when I learn that you like the same YouTube chanels I do, as if I were an adolescent learning that my favorite band likes the same candy I do. But there you go. Thanks for the episode.

+1 on Pittsburgh being great.

Whenever y’all do internet drama it truly makes my gen z heart warm.

Everything about this episode make me feel old and completely clueless.

Only a few minutes in, but some of what you are talking about reminds me of a new movie "Sweat" a Polish (and swedish?) Film about the toll on a succesful "influencer". (Now mind you, I have only seen a trailer... but wanted to put it on your radar))

Great episode!

I would love more episodes about YouTubers - every single episode you've done about them has been so well done! (PS: Don't be shy, do the Rachel Hollis episode 👀)

Thank you so much for the episode! It was really interesting and I am super grateful for the trigger warning. Maybe next time you could include somewhere in the description a time frame that is trigerring so that I know when it's safe to listen again? Would be super helpful, now I've been randomly scrolling about afraid to listen but also super curious.

I feel so old listening to this, and I'm younger than Mike! But on a separate point, I disagree that pretending to like Tom from work is not being fake. That's definitely being fake, it's just a socially acceptable (to some people) kind of fake. Speaking as someone who is very open about not liking people, I find it strange to act otherwise.

Also - i think you should cover the decade defining celebrity drama that is kanye ‘imma let you finish’ west and tswift

Caroline calloway episode please! I found out about her for the first time with the whole ~seminars shenanigans, and oh man seems like there’s a lot going on there

I have an embarrassing obsession with Youtube drama and have been following this Gabbie situation cloooosely for MONTHS. So hearing you guys talk about it is just *chef’s kiss* - bringing your perspectives which I value so much and making me think of these situations in whole new ways! (As you’re both much smarter than me 😅)

It’s been really interesting listening to you processing internet fame via various online dramas. It must be such a wild ride to have your podcast become a huge hit right when everyone has been extra lonely and isolated and even more likely than usual to develop a parasocial relationship with the friendly voices on a beloved podcast. I think you are hitting on some good insights here especially as to how we are just not developed to live in a world where we can know what people are saying about us everywhere, all the time.

As someone in my early twenties, I feel like I finally have a glimpse of understanding of the excitement some of your millennial listeners feel when you discuss people they remember from news coverage in the 90s.

Give us the Trisha paytas episodes!!!

Rachel Oates was just exiting a horrifying and abusive relationship when Gabbie suddenly decided to attack her on Instagram. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Rachel had already made this public knowledge at this point, and Gabbie likely saw this as a chance to get at her when she was at her most vulnerable.

I’d love for you guys to do an episode on Disney as a company if that interests you at all. Maybe stuff like Disney adults, the intersection of art/creativity and a profit-driven company, and representation. I personally have a lot of beef with Disney but also feel nostalgic about watching Disney princess movies when I was little. Also, I just wanted to say that I love this podcast and appreciate how much work it must take to research and formulate your thoughts on everything. i hope you're both doing well :)

This episode was great! But my favorite part...when Sarah said that Pittsburgh is her favorite city. Not from there, but tattooed a bridge on my arm because I love it so much 🥰

“Sex, sleeping, some eating…and murder.” - Sarah Best quote of the week.

HELL YES ANN REARDON. She’s fabulous. I’ve also been down a youtube commentary rabbit hole, I know hours of info on Gabbie Hanna despite never having watched a single one of her videos. I love these kinds of bonus episodes!

I have missed you soooo much! I’m happy you took time for yourselves, but this summer was lonely without your intellectual banter 😂 Can’t wait to hear more from you two. Sarah, I too have embraced my larger nose. i think it helps to define me.

Geez. Granted, I tend to avoid and just not care about most drama, particularly internet drama, but I remember seeing her on Vine and I remember some drama about her YT career not taking off like she expected, but I didn't know any of this. I followed Curtis on Vine until the rape stuff came out. Blows my mind that people still support him...

You guys should do a collab with Ann Reardon! You could do an episode about content farms/how the YouTube algorithm gets gamed

Maybe too big of a topic to tackle but I think an episode/series on prisons would be really cool. Most people don't know that much about prison slavery and alternatives to prison systems etc.

My son is 13 and he loves your podcast and listens to it regularly, so you have at least one tween-ish listener lol

I would love to hear you guys discuss Rachel Hollis!

the funniest thing about the rachel oates situation is that gabbi (or her publisher or whatever) sent rachel a copy of her second book!! for review purposes!!

The Jessi Smiles thing is why I cannot stand Gabbie.

Please do an episode on Courtney Stodden! I'm sure there's a lot to uncover/unpack there.

I'm at the part where gabbie has made a video pointing out that jessie 'has done to me what people accused her of doing', etc. there are odd popping sounds that sound like champagne corks or something. what's happening in that bit? (I don't fancy going hunting for the video/adding to the views sorry).

Omg JUICY

Yeah, this one and the twitch episode made me ask myself, “am I 38 or 88?”

Random but I heard Sarah say the Dusquene incline, are you from Pittsburgh?

One of the Narnia books (Voyage of the Dawn Treader, maybe?) has a scene where Lucy has the chance to look at a magic book and overhear what her friends are saying about her. She chooses to, despite knowing she shouldn’t, and recognises her friendship is permanently damaged when it didn’t have to be. Very heavy-handed moral lesson that stuck with me over decades!

You guys should definitely cover the Susan Yara/Naturium scandal from last summer! Skincare/beauty YouTube is so brutal and I remember everyone losing their minds over this. It again speaks to the changing nature of celebrity and expert knowledge, who is qualified to give out advice and information, who we trust to guide us, and what happens when someone breaks that trust. A big UK skincare influencer named Caroline Hirons really went after Yara as well over this, but it felt like in a really weird/problematic way? Also there's a whole sidebar that could be done about skincare "reaction" videos and the huge trend for them a few years ago, and what it means that we've started to push back on how casually cruel a lot of those reaction videos were. Anyway, love the episode, thanks guys!

I’m going to jump in and add another random internet influencer I think about, Acacia Brinkley. She started as a tumblr girl and eventually became an IG mommy blogger. She had the most consistent and vicious group of haters I’ve ever encountered online. She left social media after a plagiarism scandal. I know she deserved criticism but I also have no doubt her hate followers must have harassed her again to an obscene degree. It really freaked me out seeing the level of abuse she received and the obsessiveness of the people who went after her.

As was the case with several other commenters above, this podcast episode made me feel pretty old. My experience with YouTube is also just so different from what is described in this episode. This may have to do with the fact that on YouTube, as in junior high, high school and college, I seem to hang out mostly with the geeks and nerds who had an interest in history, science, classic movies and comic books instead of with the "cool kids." Most of the "YouTube celebrities" for me are people such as The History Guy of History Deserves to Be Remembered, Cipher the Cynical Historian, ZDoggMD (Dr. Zuban Damania), David Fletcher of Tank Chats (from the Bovington Tank Museum), The Chieftain (Nicholas Moran) of Inside the Chieftain's Hatch, Steve Hayes of Tired Old Queen of the Movies, Izzy of Be Kind Rewind, and Sasha of Casually Comics.

Apparently Gabbie Hanna has so many scandals that the only one I know about didn’t even make it into the episode! I speak of the one where she faked a relationship with Bo Burnham, and then he shaded her in the song White Woman’s Instagram from his Inside special. I agree with the conclusion that people were just not made for this shit and I’m glad you’re off Twitter for your mental health!

Oh my gosh, please please PLEASE do Rachel Hollis.

Trying to explain e girls, I’m screaming omfg

Always love listening to Sarah and Michael talk about literally anything, but every time they played a clip of this YouTube woman, who I had never heard of until just now, I wanted to pull my eyelashes out. Clearly there are some topics I am just way too old for!

Fame sounds awful. Hope you two are ok.

I knew nothing of this before this episode! How does she have 5.5 million followers?!?!? Are there seriously that many people that want to relive Jr. High/High school?

Y'all have made me feel so old with this one.

The Pittsburgh love!!! My heart!!! ❤️❤️great episode

Please, can we please have the Trisha Paytas saga

ok excuse me, i am here for the 8 part trisha paytas saga. i am endlessly fascinated by her, and then the exposure of her mental health meltdowns on frenemies and then the breakup of frenemies and the toxicity of the h3 fanbase lashing out at her and their leader ethan klein refusing to pull it back and instead keeps adding fuel to the fire. endlessly fascinated. and i do think that the majority of people are wrong about trisha paytas.

“People have a right to write poems short enough that other people will read them.” ❤️

Sarah I'll miss your Twitter content (I'm taking a possibility permanent hiatus myself) but I'll always cherish the time you complimented my crossstitch project

Thank you for this! I've been seeing her name pop up on and off in recent years and I had no clue who she was. The larger perspective about internet fame was really interesting. A lot to think about.

I genuinely wonder how long it's going to take for Gabbie to get wind of this episode and go on a rant about how she's the victim of another "orchestrated campaign".

"If all the other influencers jumped off a bridge, would you?"

Man oh man oh man. I really really love you two. That is all. xo

I kept telling myself when Gabbie was releasing her latest series was that "Youre Wrong About needs to discuss this" "I need to know Sarah and Michael's interpretation of this" I truly feel like I manifested this episode

I could listen to M&S talk about anything. Maybe they could offer a Patreon tier where I could give them something I don't like and they would research it and take it apart :)

Y’all posted this on Patreon so Gabbie wouldn’t see it and make a video on it 🤣

I felt really seen when you confused e girl with scene kids, I had the literal exact same reaction

Can’t get enough of Sarah’s love of Pittsburgh 🖤💛🖤 Bonus pts for the Duquesne Incline reference!

i've never heard of any of these people before. i find it fascinating though because it seems to me that people are (re-?)discovering the concept of ethics through a very public trial-and-error process. ethics is nothing less but the way we exist and act in the world so of course these things being basically recorded and stored everywhere for (potentially) ever is harrowing. i hope she deletes her socials, takes a step back and reflects. and maybe touches some grass. jfc what a mess

I forgot about Gabbie Hanna until I saw a Nick DiRamio video called "All Gabbie Hanna Music Videos Are The Same..." About halfway through I though "Wait, isn't she that girl from vine? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhH_TGStPl0

cw: sexual assault The whole section about the inability to distinguish between "youtube drama" and "real life shit that should not be messed with" reminds me of a recent season of Survivor (which, contrary to the name, is fundamentally about lying and maintaining social relationships). There was a male contestant who touched a female contestant inappropriately, and when she tried to talk about it to some other women on the show, they lied to her about also getting groped and then ended up voting *her* out that episode. There were a bunch of apology tweets when that episode aired about "I got too caught up in the game," but it always struck me as a huge failure of judgement for everyone involved (including the production team!) And the ethos of Survivor is basically "I'll do whatever it takes to win," but you should *definitely know* that you should not lie about sexual assault in service of doing better on a reality TV show!

Are you guys familiar with Onision?? The iceberg on this one goes so deep I can't even think of a way to summarize all of the terrible things he and his spouse have done. Chris Hansen and Daniel Tosh are also both briefly involved with this guy, to pique your interest. It's a rabbit hole.

About to listen. Glad to see more content! :) My friend and I would love to hear you cover the Olsen Twins. We just watched It Takes Two for the first time since childhood, and were groaning and laughing over the terrible acting... there's a lot to cover about the Olsen Twins' adolescent and adult lives of course, but even just the fact that these two girls became famous through Full House and had a lengthy career that depended on this bizarre fixation on twinhood in spite of really bad acting... I'd love to understand more about this :)

LOVE the Ann Reardon shoutout. I think our YouTube algorithms have led us to similar places which my friends and I have termed "furiosity" — super-niche curiosities that make me simultaneously mad and intrigued. MLMs, YouTuber drama, cooking tutorial debunkings, and family vloggers get me SO MAD and yet SO FASCINATED

I missed Sarah !

I'm at the makeup brush portion and now I'm desperate for you guys to do a Caroline Calloway deepdive. It's SO WEIRD guys.

Narcissist accusations are just confessions. Gabbies behavior is quite classically narcissistic. Sad story

I do miss your Twitter, Sarah, I feel like you connected a group of really cool people BUT!!! You are a person with your own life and I'm so glad you made the right decision for you 💕💕💕💕💕

omg pleaseee do an episode on trisha 😭😭😭 i would love to hear y’all talk about their (ex)friendship with h3h3

maybe i qualify as one of the four resident tweens as a seventeen year old ahaha- great episode guys !! was very sweet to hear you struggle through the egirl bit as One Of The Youths ;)

You guys just express everything so perfectly and eloquently!!! I’m 18 and didn’t know half of this - but I do see the way people treat gabbie online. It seems like such a vicious cycle of her doing something ‘problematic’ people attacking her with a lot of vim and vitriol, and then her retaliating in a way people consider problematic etc etc. It’s sad really how social media has melted everyone’s brains

I’d love to see you guys cover the Dream Minecraft speedrun cheating scandal! The Karl Jobst and The Weekly Thing YouTube channels both have pretty solid recaps.

This was such a great episode, I’m so interested in the pattern of people on the internet using “therapy speak” and deeming people they disagree with or are in conflict with as “narcissistic abusers” like Gabbie Hanna does? Like what is going on there?

Did anyone catch the YouTube drama Channel Mike mentioned??? I can’t find it in the episode and dying to hear able someone beef

I went so far down the gabby Hanna hole this summer that it’s now a running joke with my friends. We reference the post she made about being able to (redacted) your dad alllllll the time.

Love the random Duquesne Incline shout out! Greetings from Pittsburgh!

the looking up negative comments about yourself is (almost?) a form of digital self harm!

Great episode! I have zero sympathy for someone who treats a rape victim the way Gabbie did. The tea in this episode is soooo good. Love you both!

Great episode. I was a fan of Gabbie and her music but I just had a bad feeling about how she’s handled situations the last year or so. Great insight!

This episode was great. I don’t follow YouTubers (I don’t think yoga with Adriene counts in this, haha) but over the last few years similar things have played out in the crafting communities I participate in - sometimes around racism and sometimes it’s just weird beefs between friends - which is something that blew up between two sewing instagrammers who became Instagram famous very quickly, were very friendly and are now enemies after drama in which one of them claimed to have had to phone 911 because of something the other one did? As you both point out in the episode, it becomes really strange when it’s essentially two friends publicly relitigating their friendship breakup. On Instagram also, this all usually takes places with call-outs in stories so it has the added frisson of being kind of impossible to follow, which then allows the commentators to insert themselves into it. It’s kind of fascinating and depressing all at once.

First the Twitch drama and now this! I never knew how much I needed to hear internet drama told through Mike and Sarah. Might be my new favorite format.

Having lived through gamer gate as a game dev (big part of why I didn't stay in the industry), I'd love to see y'all cover that specific garbage fire

Great episode guys! I am of the generation that grew up with Gabbie Hanna and fortunately I was never a big fan of follower of her. It’s very sad to see how the internet “destroys” people in a sense. Can’t wait for your 8 episodes on Trisha Paytas 🤪

My heart grew three sizes the day I saw that Ann Reardon tweet too!

Oh god PLEASE do a Rachel Hollis ep! WOWWIE there's a lot there. I had NO landscape on this and just... wow. As always *chefs kiss*

Loved the episode as always, but this was my face for a lot of it 😬

“In one of those gendered homicides which is always so depressing to read about.” SM once again perfectly describing something that exists but is so hard to put into words. 😗👌 (chefs kiss)

Adore you both so much and this episode is fantastic

Joined pattern just to listen

Very glad you guys talked about this - I've been wanting to understand what's going on for a while, but every youtube video I can find about the subject is titled something like 'GABBIE HANNA IS A SOCIOPATH' which doesn't exactly instill confidence in me about the quality of that video.

SO glad to see love for Ann Reardon here - legend!

Omg this crossover, I cannot 😭

Love that this and maintenance phase dropped at the same time 😂 methodology queen

Yessss I've been waiting for this one

I've never followed Youtubers yet I loved this show as a cultural study of a phenomenon I don't fully understand. Made my monday morning, thank yooou!

Yessssssss, bonus YWA and MP in one day!

I’ve been having the worst few days and now I’m SO excited to wake up early go for a walk and listen to this beauty! Thank you!

The pandemic threw me in the whole YouTube Dramas....you should do Trisha Paytas. Her case shows how toxic social media is I think

Wow, I just finished downloading the Maintenence Phase bonus episode. Is today Christmas?

As for other controversies, this is prob too UK centric but I was fascinated by the Slumflower/Florence Given incident earlier this year (or last year?). So much to say about the nature of celebrity and pop feminism and racism and ownership of ideas on the internet

Nnnnooooo way. Haven't even listened yet and know its going to be a doozy. Thanks. X

Really that comment, per YouTuber tradition, should have been: FIRSR

I'd love to hear your take on Belle Gibson (Australia)

I’ve been WAITING for this one

I have been on holiday for two weeks with no social media on my phone, only Patreon which I impulsively open from time to time, and relistening to YWA OJ episodes on long drives. What a treat to open it to this! And on one of my FAVOURITE rabbit holes - internet fame! Thank you Sarah thank you Mike what a treat

Oh I am SO excited for this